This Oat Flour Cake is a vegan gluten-free cake recipe made entirely with oat flour. It’s a healthy cake made with no refined sugar, no eggs, or dairy.
You might have tried my oat flour muffin recipe and it came out so fluffy and delicious that I couldn’t resist creating an oat flour cake recipe.
This oat flour cake is perfect to make layer cakes, or simply serve a healthy cake for your afternoon tea.
Ingredients
To make a cake from oat flour you need:
- Homemade Oat Flour – check how to make oat flour in a blender, food processor or mixer.
- Cornstarch – Arrowroot flour.
- Mashed Banana Puree – or unsweetened applesauce.
- Coconut Sugar or any crystal sugar you love like brown sugar, unrefined cane sugar, or sugar.
- Maple Syrup
- Dairy-Free Milk of choice like oat milk, almond milk, or soy milk.
- Oil – olive oil, canola oil, or melted coconut oil.
- Vanilla Extract
- Apple Cider Vinegar or lemon juice
- Salt
- Baking Powder
- Baking Soda
How To Make Oat Flour Cake
Oat flour is made from blended oats into a thin flour-like texture. It doesn’t work the same as all-purpose flour; it’s higher in protein and fiber and won’t make cakes as fluffy.
But it’s a great healthy option to make cakes or brownies like my breakfast brownies.
- First, in a large bowl, whisk all the dry ingredients (photo 1): oat flour, cornstarch, coconut sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.
- In a medium bowl, stir plant-based milk and apple cider vinegar (photo 2). Set aside.
- Peel, and mash the ripe bananas on a plate or chopping board (photo 3).
- Pack the mashed banana in a measuring cup and measure the amount required by the recipe. Place the mashed banana in another large mixing bowl (photo 4).
- Add the vegan buttermilk made before to the bowl with the mashed bananas, oil, maple syrup, vanilla extract, and plant-based milk of choice (photo 5).
- Whisk to combine the wet ingredients very well together.
- Combine wet ingredients with dry ingredients.
- Switch to a silicone spatula, and stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients (photo 6). Stir until the batter is consistent.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line the bottom of a cake pan with parchment paper and oil the sides and bottom with cooking spray.
- Fill the cake pan with the gluten-free oat flour cake batter.
- Bake the cake in the center rack of the oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in its middle comes out clean.
- Cool completely at room temperature on a wire rack before frosting or slicing.
Decorating
You can use this cake for a layer cake or serve it as a single-layer cake.
Decorate the top of the cake with some vanilla vegan frosting or vegan coconut cream frosting.
Then, add slices of fresh banana, chopped nuts like pecans and walnuts, and a drizzle of peanut butter caramel.
Allergy Swaps
- Oil – You can’t make this cake oil-free, or the texture doesn’t come out right. But, if preferred, you can swap the oil for melted vegan butter, like Earth Balance.
- Gluten-Free – Make sure you prepare the oat flour using a gluten-free certified oat brand.
- Nut-Free – Use soy milk or oat milk to avoid nuts in almond milk.
Storage Instructions
- Refrigerator – Place the cake in a cake box in the refrigerator and keep it for up to 4 days.
- Freezer – Freeze in an airtight box, sliced or whole, for up to one month. Thaw in the fridge the day before.
Variations
You can add some ingredients to the cake batter to add flavor and texture. In the end, stir in 1/2 cup of :
- Dark chocolate chips
- Blueberries
- Unsweetened shredded coconut
- Chocolate cake – stir in 1/4 cup cocoa powder in the batter, along with the dry ingredients. Or try my vegan birthday cake recipe for a chocolate oat flour cake, without banana or oil
- Chopped walnuts or pecans
Frequently Asked Questions
Here my answers to your most common questions about baking cake with oat flour.
Yes, oat flour is a healthy flour to make cakes. However, since it’s higher in fiber and proteins, the amount of liquid in the recipe won’t be the same as for a regular cake.
You usually need more liquid and a binder to avoid a fragile, crumbly oat cake.
This doesn’t always work, especially if your cake recipe is vegan and egg-free. You may need to add an egg replacer to bind the ingredients together.
Generally, 1 cup of all-purpose flour equals 1 1/4 cups of oat flour and more binder like a flax egg, cornstarch, or fruit puree.
All-purpose flour is poor in fiber, proteins, and nutrients. Oat flour is a better choice if you are after a healthy cake recipe that keeps you full.
More Vegan Cake Recipes
Below are some more vegan cake recipes for you to try:
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Oat Flour Cake
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 2 cups Oat Flour - lightly packed, swept
- 2 tablespoons Cornstarch - or arrowroot powder, packed, swept
- ¼ cup Coconut Sugar
- 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
- ¼ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
Wet Ingredients
- 1 ⅓ cup Mashed Banana - equivalent to 3 large bananas
- ¼ cup Almond Milk
- ¼ cup Maple Syrup
- ⅓ cup Coconut Oil - melted. Or canola oil or melted coconut oil.
- 1 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a round cake pan with parchment paper at the bottom and lightly oil the sides and bottom with cooking oil spray.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk all the dry ingredients together. Set aside.
- In another bowl, stir non-dairy milk and apple cider vinegar. Set aside.
- Meanwhile, mash the banana on a plate using a fork. Pack the mashed bananas into measuring cups to measure the amount required by the recipe.
- Add the mashed banana, milk mixture, oil, maple syrup, and vanilla extract in another large mixing bowl. Whisk to combine the liquid ingredients nicely together.
- Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients using a silicone spatula until all the batter is well combined.
- Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake in the center rack of the oven until a toothpick comes out clean – 35-40 minutes.
- Cool on a wire rack before frosting.
Frosting
- Frost with dairy-free vanilla frosting, and add banana slices, chopped nuts, and a drizzle of peanut butter caramel to serve.
Storage
- Store the cake in the fridge in an airtight cake box for up to 4 days or freeze for up to 1 month in airtight container.
Do you have recommendations for an oil free version?
I didn’t try yet but I think it will be make the cake very fragile.
I made this with apple sauce as I didn’t have bananas. It was amazing, so moist and tasty. My partner, who is not vegan, ate most of it. Will definitely make again. Any suggestions to reducing the amount of coconut oil without affecting the outcome too much?
You can use other vegetable oils, but I haven’t yet found a reliable way to completely remove oil.
Hi Carine,
What size cake pan should I use?
Thanks!
It works fine in an 8-inch pan.
Ich habe heute den Kuchen ohne Banane zubereitet, die Bananen habe ich gegen weiße Süßkartoffel ausgetauscht, alle waren begeistert.
Das Rezept klappt ganz bestimmt auch mit Kabocha anstelle von Bananen.
Grüße,
Gabriel